Marvel star Samuel Jackson called out Justice Clarence Thomas for failing to name interracial marriage in his concurring opinion on landmark Supreme Court rulings.
In a separate opinion from Friday’s controversial 5-4 ruling to overturn Roe v. Wade, which established the federal right to abortion in 1973, Thomas argued that the constitution doesn’t apply to other key decisions.
He listed off three cases – Griswold v. Connecticut in 1965, Lawrence v. Texas in 2003, and Obergefell v. Hodges in 2015 – which granted the constitutional rights for access to contraceptives, same-sex relationships, and gay marriage.
“In future cases, we should reconsider all of this Court’s substantive due process precedents, including Griswold, Lawrence, and Obergefell,” Thomas wrote. “Because any substantive due process decision is ‘demonstrably erroneous,’ … we have a duty to ‘correct the error’ established in those precedents.”
“How’s Uncle Clarence feeling about Overturning Loving v Virginia??!!” Jackson shot back in a tweet on Friday.
The “Pulp Fiction” was referring to SCOTUS’s 1976 ruling that banning interracial marriage is unconstitutional. Pointing toward the case’s obvious connection to Thomas and his wife Virginia, who are an interracial couple that have been married since 1987.
How’s Uncle Clarence feeling about Overturning Loving v Virginia??!!
— Samuel L. Jackson (@SamuelLJackson) June 25, 2022
Former U.S. Senator Al Franken also lashed out at Thomas, for his “conflict of interest” in a tweet on Friday.
“After overturning Roe, Thomas wants to revisit Griswold, Lawrence, & Obergefell. How about revisiting Thomas’ conflicts of interest instead of our rights?” he wrote.
Franken called on Democrats to “put a bill on the floor codifying the right to birth control, and in light of Thomas’ concurrence, marriage equality and privacy.”
He concluded his rant with the assertion that the court’s ruling is “the culmination of a 50 year project by GOP operatives, religious fundamentalists, billionaire oligarchs, & right-wing media.”
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